


Open Sea

by CanYourDan



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Hurt!Dan, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Merman!Dan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-06-08 10:15:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6850720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanYourDan/pseuds/CanYourDan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When fisherman Phil accidentally gets a merman caught in his net, decides to nurse him back to health. The new science facility has other ideas, however...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a new story, tell me what you think!

Living by the sea had its ups and downs, but generally Phil enjoyed being a fisherman’s son. The salty air gave spice to your life, and despite many of the rough personalities the sailors at the docks had, Phil had always found a way to see underneath the fishermen’s cold exterior and make them smile with some little quip about the ocean.

When there were storms, Phil enjoyed gazing out at the boats bobbing on the docks, though he would hate to be caught out in one. As a little boy he and his father had been caught in a storm once, and just as he was sure their boat would capsize, something seemed to steady it. Blinking out past the raindrops pounding on the boat’s little windows, Phil had seen a human face and the splash of a shining blue tail, but it was gone in moments, and no one ever believed his story that he was sure he’d seen a mermaid.

Years passed and Phil remained the same whimsical boy. He was 21 now, having taken over his father’s fishing business, and despite losing his father to the ocean at age 19, Phil still loved the shore. His father’s death while securing the boats during a typhoon two years ago had almost driven Phil away, yet somehow leaving hurt more than staying, so instead he found a way to remain always cheerful, despite an occasional pang whilst navigating his father’s boat.

This morning, Phil woke with his usual smile. He thanked Nautical, his virtually pet seagull, for the egg she supplied this morning and then fried it up before leaving his small cottage at the edge of the cliff and descending down to the docks.

As usual, the bearded fishermen were all in a hurry, the sound of clanging bells and creaking rigging filling the crisp morning air.

“Good morning Captain Gregor!” Phil called to one particularly sour sea captain, who simply grumbled back at Phil before returning to trying untangle his nets. Phil bit his lip, before carefully boarding the man’s ship, picking up one of the tangled nets. “Need some help?”

“I was doin’ fine on me own, boy,” Captain Gregor growled, however he didn't turn Phil away when he began to untangle the nets.

“The wind must've been strong down here last night! I heard the rain in my little cottage, it sounded like a pretty big storm,” Phil commented, smiling up at the captain with shining blue eyes.

“Aye, it was,” Gregor muttered. “I thought me boat would turn over any moment. If it wasn't for the storm I’d ‘ave been out an hour ago.”

“That's alright, it looks like everyone is a little behind schedule,” Phil smiled, handing over the net. “There, all done! Good luck today, Captain, I'll see you tonight.”

“Yes… Same to you, Philip. Don't crash your father’s boat, it's all we ‘ave left of him, and I rather like that old thing. Nice to see her in the harbour. Here, take this, Philip. You don't eat enough. A bag of crisps and dried prawns is what you need. One day you'll fall by the wayside looking like that.”

“Thank you Captain,” Phil smiled, jumping off the boat and dashing onto his own, Selkie. He untied the old boat from the dock and pushed off, starting the ancient engine and steering out toward the deeper sea where he had his nets tied off on a buoy. 

The wind was not strong today, so Phil was surprised when he saw the buoy swaying back and forth dramatically. As he drew closer, he realized his net must've caught a large fish, and he swallowed hard. He hated when something big got accidentally tangled in his net, and he steered his boat forward very slowly.

The first thing that he glimpsed with a shining, deep green tail, and he reeled backwards. Nothing in the ocean had scales that colour, and it took Phil a moment to remain his composer before easing his boat forward again. The flailing creature in the net stilled for a moment, before wiggling and flailing again with renewed vigor. It was until Phil crept to the side of the boat, peering into the murky depths that he froze.

Staring up at Phil from just under the surface was the face of a young man. He locked eyes with the brown haired boy, before the creature began to let out bubbles from his screams and cries, wiggling desperately and crying out.

“What in the world…” Phil trailed his eyes from the boy’s torso to the shining green tail, and then his jaw dropped. “You a… A merman!”

The creature obviously couldn't hear him under the water, and he simply continued to fight against the net that was binding him. Phil thought about what to do, before deciding quickly to reach down as always and connect hooks to the net and lug the creature onto his boat and move from there. 

The merman watched as Phil connected four hooks to the net, and though at first he continued to fight, as he began to be lifted from the water, he fell still, simply letting out streams of whimpers.

Phil gently lowered the tangle of net and merman to the deck, and he was shocked to hear sobs falling from the merman’s mouth. A closer inspection found the boy’s shoulders heaving and crying pouring from his lips.

“Hey, I'm not going the hurt you,” Phil murmured, lowering a hand to Dan’s shoulder, yet the merman let out a cry and began to struggle fruitlessly again, his tail slapping the deck as he let out several cries of terror, rolling around under he gave up with a sniffle.

“Hey, just hold still” Phil murmured, taking out a knife with which to cut the net, yet the boy’s eyes widened in terror, whimpering more as he stared at Phil with wide brown eyes. He shut them tightly as Phil leaned closer, yet when he felt his binds being cut loose, his eyes slowly opened again.

Phil watched as the remainder of the net fell away, and he winced where he saw that the net had cut into the boy’s skin a tail, leaving bloody tracks and rope burns. He set the knife aside and leaned closer. At first the merman flinched backwards, but when Phil simply tore off a bit of his own shirt and dabbed at one of his wounds, the merman blinked, relaxing.

“I'm so sorry you got caught in my net,” Phil rambled, dabbing up the blood before tying the strip of shirt like a bandage and then ripping off more shirt to dab another wound. “I'm Phil, by the way. I always knew merpeople were real, but no one ever believed me! Do you have a name? Can you talk?”

The creature stared at Phil, blinking slowly, and Phil sighed.

“You probably don't understand me,” Phil nodded, yet the boy suddenly opened his mouth.

“Dan,” he spoke slowly. “My name is Dan… Please don't hurt me. Please let me go…”


	2. Chapter 2

Phil blinked at the creature in front of him again, before shaking his head, eyes wide.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” Phil promised. “And you can talk! I figured you could, but I didn't know if you spoke English. Wow, are you okay? Those burns look painful… I'm so sorry you got caught. I hate catching things that aren't the little fish. I have to catch those because that's my job and I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't doing that, but I don't mean to ever catch anything else. I caught a seal once but I took it into the rescue center right away and they said she'd be okay. Are you okay? I'm sorry, I'm rambling.”

Dan stared at Phil silently as he carried on, but when Phil finally fell silent, Dan cleared his throat and spoke softly.

“I'm fine, I guess,” he hissed when he tried to flip his tail, blood dribbling down the shining scales. “Um… You… You don't seem surprised to see me. I was sure humans still didn't know of our existence.”

“Oh, they don't, I'm just open minded,” Phil smiled. “Or maybe you're not real and I'm crazy. A lot of the sailors think I'm kinda crazy, that's why I'm not invited to their parties… I’m not really their type anyway, though. I like to read and daydream, which are both worthless past times, they say…”

“Daydreaming isn't worthless,” Dan murmured, studying Phil as if he was the most interesting thing he’d ever laid eyes on. “I do it all the time. Then again, I'm kind of worthless.”

“No! You seem very nice! Don't say that,” Phil cried in return. “Oh my gosh, I can't wait to tell the other sailors! I always knew you were real!”

“No! You can't!” Dan cried, trying to sit up, even as he hissed in pain. “Please, just let me go, forget I exist, please!”

“Why? Don't you want to get to know humans?” Phil frowned. “What's wrong with us?”

“Well for one you're savages, always catching creatures from the ocean!” Dan spat, growing suddenly angry. “And for another, it could put our world in great danger! We’ve already had to move deeper and deeper, and further into caves. And besides, they all hate me already, if I'm the one who bring humans back, I'm dead fish.” Dan shivered.

“You mean there's more of you?” Phil asked excitedly. “Why don't they like you? How'd you end up caught in my net anyway? If you're always deep, you shouldn't have cause my net is near the surface.”

“There was a storm,” Dan blushed. “Just, uh, wanted to make sure no one was sinking.”

“Aw, you save sinking boats?” Phil beamed. “That's so sweet! Mermaids are just as amazing as I thought.”

“Look, letting you savages die would be as bad as being one of you,” Dan spat. “And just because I'm a good merman doesn't mean the rest of us are. Half the time my people are the ones knocking over your boats. After all, they say the only good human is a dead one.”

“Oh,” Phil paled. 

“Anyway, please, just let me go? Even if I am the outcast, at least I won't get skewered down there,” Dan declared.

“But… I mean… I guess,” Phil bit his lip. “But… I mean, I caught a real merman…. Hey, you hear that?”

Dan perked his ears, and then paled, squirming as his tail desperately slapped the deck.

“Someone's coming, please let me go!” Dan began to sob. Phil paled, however when he spotted another boat approaching, he thought quickly and grabbed a tarp, throwing it over Dan.

“Phil!” The captain of the approaching boat called. “Ahoy!”

“Hello Captain Pitoet!” Phil relied nervously. “What're you doing over here?”

“I was talking to Jack,” the dark haired captain declared. Pulling his boat up alongside Phil’s. “He came by here this morning and told me to check your nets. He said you'd caught a sea monster or some other!”

“Sea monster?” Phil raised his eyebrows with a chuckle. “Really? That'd be amazing! I just checked, there was no sea monster.”

“Oh, you know, something big,” the captain rolled his eyes. “Something really worth something. I figured if it was big I'd help you pull up. Where are your nets?”

“Oh, already pulled up,” Phil shrugged. “Actually didn't catch anything… Maybe whatever it was got away.”

“Oh?” The captain asked slowly, eyeing Phil. “Is that so?”

“Yes it is,” Phil nodded earnestly. “Terrible waste of a storm.”

“Oh,” the captain sighed. “Too bad… I hoped whatever it was could be sold to that new fangled science facility going in right down the coast. Apparently they're saying they found evidence of something strange in our waters. I've never seen anything strange, but I'm keeping my eyes open!”

“Oh…. Right, I forget about that. I'll keep mine open as well. Thank you captain,” Phil smiled. He waited until the captain was long gone before yanking the tarp off of Dan, water droplets scattering.

“Thanks,” Dan murmured, gazing at Phil with new respect. “But… What did he mean about the science facility?”

“Oh, apparently some scientists claim they found a strange fish around here, so they're starting a facility with deep sea equipment,” Phil explained as Dan’s eyes widened in horror. “What?”

“They could find us!” Dan cried. “I had no idea! I… I have to warn them!”

“Oh…” Phil nodded sadly. “I suppose I should release you… Um, wow, no one would believe me anyway, to be honest. I hope you'll be okay. Maybe I'll see you again.”

Dan flinched as Phil lifted him, and then dumped him back in the water, but something surprising happened. Dan let out a scream and the water around him faded to blood red.

“Dan?” Phil asked in horror as Dan writhed. “Dan are you okay?”

Without waiting for a reply, Phil lugged the panting Dan back into the boat, watching as Dan let out a sigh of relief.

“The… The salt water?” He muttered. “Maybe? I don't think it's good for deep wounds…”

“Oh no,” Phil paled. “I can't let you go if you can't even swim!”

“I’ll… I'll be fine,” Dan spoke, however his voice was not reassuring, and Phil shook his head.

“No way, I can't let you go back in there like that, not since it's my fault. Besides, a shark could smell you! But I mean… You can't live outside of water… Can you?”

Dan looked away nervously, before shrugging. He suddenly glanced down, grabbed a nearby cloth and rubbed himself down, and then Phil’s eyes widened in awe as Dan’s tail split in two and then the scales faded, replacing the tail with bare legs.

“I mean… It's a thing we do when we’re not in water,” Dan muttered. Phil averted his eyes, though they were drawn a bit to the deep cuts on Dan’s legs.

“That looks bad,” Phil bit his lips. “And… Wow, that's amazing. But uh… You should cover yourself, here.”

“Why?” Dan raised his eyebrows. “Just because humans wear strange coverings doesn't mean I have to too, does it?”

“Uh, as a human you really should,” Phil muttered, and Dan sighed before pulling the blanket over his legs. Phil nodded, before speaking again. “Well… Since you can do that, I should offer you my house. It's my fault you're hurt, would you like a place to stay until you're healed?”

“I… You'd offer your cave so readily?” Dan looked confused. “Humans are more hospitable than I expected.”

“I… I mean I feel kinda guilty since you got hurt… So yes, you could take my bed,” Phil looked hopeful. “Just until you're healed. I promise I won't hurt you, and I won't make you eat fish.”

“Oh, what a comfort,” Dan muttered, hesitating before he nodded. “I… I suppose I should thank you, human. That's very kind.”

Phil smiled, nodding as he looked over Dan. This was a very strange turn of events.

As Phil steered his boat back to the dock, Dan came out of the cabin with jeans and a striped t-shirt Phil had stored away. It was loose over Dan’s thin frame, and he shivered uncomfortably.

“Your coverings are uncomfortable,” Dan complained. “I don't like them.”

“Well you can't go walking around naked,” Phil lectured, glancing up and down the empty dock. Most all the boats were missing as the sailors were doing their rounds, so Dan was pulled off the boat as he stumbled, almost crashing to the ground.

“Walking is harder than it looks,” Dan muttered. “I've never tried it before. It's against our laws.”

“Oh… I'll help you,” Phil smiled, looping an arm around Dan, yet a call stopped him in his tracks.

“Phil, my boy!” A man called, and Phil turned to see the young captain, Jack, grinning at him. Jack was one of the only other young captains around, though he was six years older than Phil, and constantly reminded him of it.

“Who's this here?” Jack declared. “Never seen you around before, lad.”

“This is Dan,” Phil spoke up when Dan seemed too nervous. “He’s on holiday from Uni. He was swimming and the tide pulled him out and he got tangled in some fishing line, so I’m taking care of him for the moment.”

“Those look bad,” Jack gestured to the burns on Dan’s arms, but Dan was quick to shake his head, still quiet. “Anyway, Phil, what was in your net this morning? I glimpsed it on my first round. Had a big green tale!”

“I dunno, by the time I got there, whatever it was must've escape… Captain Pitoet told me you saw something, but all I found was a ripped net.”

“Maybe it's what the scientist folks are looking for!” Jack declared enthusiastically. “Well good luck Dan. You're lucky Phil found you, the tide can be very strong.”

“Yes it can,” Dan finally spoke, his eyes nervous.

“Well come on,” Phil smiled, pulling Dan along. “Goodbye Jack!”

“Farewell, my boy,” Jack nodded, before his eyes shifted to Dan, and he shook his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment your opinions!


End file.
